Pointillist vs SnapDot
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Pointillist
Transform your photos into pointillist art in seconds. Select an image from your device or camera, and the app will render it into a unique dot-patterned masterpiece. Adjust and share your creations easily.
- Photo to pointillism conversion
- Select photos from album or camera
- Zoom in/out to view artwork
- Adjust painting to taste
- Save, mail, print, and share creations
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As you may know, pointillism is a form of painting developed in the late 19th century branching from Impressionism, in which small dots are applied in patterns to form a picture. And a pointillist, who paints with pointillism, usually needs to spend months to paint the hundreds of thousands of tiny dots. But now with the Pointillist, you can "paint" your photo into a work of pointillism art just in seconds. With it, you can select a photo from the album or the camera, and the Pointillist will render the photo into pointillism for you. Zoom in/out to view your artwork and adjust the painting according to your flavor. When finished, you can save, mail, print, or share your masterpiece on Facebook and Twitter. Make your iPhone/iPad a pointillism art master!
SnapDot
Transform your photos into unique stipple drawings with intuitive editing tools. Control dot density, contrast, and brightness to create professional-looking art for sharing or printing. Supports color, greyscale, and black-and-white outputs.
- Create stipple drawings from photos
- Control dot density, contrast, and brightness
- Color, greyscale, and black-and-white modes
- Optional canvas background
- Advanced PDF exporting
- Social media integration
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Automatically create one-of-kind professional stipple drawings! Create customized professional stipple drawings from photos with easy editing tools on the iPhone and iPad. The dots respond instantly to your artistic expression. The most compelling and innovative drawing app on the App Store. CHECK OUT SNAPDOT ON PINTEREST: http://pinterest.com/jccollier/snapdot-drawings/ SnapDot gives your iPhone and iPad the ability to draw professionally with stipples: dots! SnapDot applies your creativity to your favorite photos with intuitive controls. Each setting—whether it’s the number of dots, contrast, or brightness—turns your photo into a unique work of art to share with friends or to frame and hang on your wall. FEATURES: + Fine-level control over contrast, brightness, and number of dots. + Individual modes for color, greyscale and true black-and-white drawings. + Optional canvas background and advanced exporting to PDF. + Helpful on-screen reminders of buttons and icons. + Improved integration with Facebook and all your other apps. SUPPORTS: All iPhone and iPad devices running iOS 8.0+, including iOS 9. Have an issue? We can't respond to App Store reviews, so email us at support@dotwerx.com.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: SnapDot at Free against Pointillist's $0.99. SnapDot also leads on rating (4.6 vs 3.2) and update cadence (every 2 months vs every 7 months). On ads, in-app purchases, monetization model and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
SnapDot is free to download; Pointillist costs $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
SnapDot holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 3.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 13 and 39 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 63% of Pointillist's written reviews are positive against 82% of SnapDot's.
Pointillist ships an update every 7 months, SnapDot every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 3, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Pointillist | SnapDot |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 3.2 (13 ratings) | 4.6 (39 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 62.8% of reviews | 82.3% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 13 | 39 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 7 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 | 8.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | 志明 丁 | Dotwerx |
Customer experience
Pointillist
SnapDot
Bugs and requests
Pointillist
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
SnapDot
Reported bugs
10 issues- Crashes when opened
- Crashes upon opening after iOS 6 update
- Sliders no longer visible
- App will not delete
- Background frame/paper button doesn't toggle background
Show 5 moreShow fewer
- Image resizing/resolution reduction
- Self-hiding adjustment popovers
- Manual adjustment brushes confusing
- Does not install on iPad (for one user)
- Saving to camera roll not full size
Requested features
8 requests- More dots
- Ability to crop image
- More updates
- Port to macOS
- Add squares & geometric shapes
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- Reset feature
- Stop auto-hiding adjustment popovers
- Full size saving to camera roll
In-app purchases
Pointillist
No in-app purchases
SnapDot
No in-app purchases









